Friday, February 11, 2005

First one out with the D word

Nothing I've read lately bodes well for the Baril for AG campaign. Brandon posted a rumor that Baril was paying his "volunteers." Today, the AFP says here that the Baril camp is daring the McConnell camp to a series of debates.

From everything I've ever read or heard, the candidate pressing for the debates is the one who thinks he's behind, and is hoping for the big inning, the deep pass, the halfcourt buzzer beater, and the late round knockout, to overcome the other candidate's lead.

Also, I don't understand how anybody from a really big Richmond law firm could make the claim to be more qualified as the next "people's lawyer" (i.e., the truer populist?) and somehow less of an "insider" than a small firm lawyer from Virginia Beach (who went to Regent). Am I the only one who thinks that is really strange? The Williams Mullen firm just got all of this publicity from Jerry Kilgore joining over there, and some its partners are recognized as the foremost lobbyists, and yet a Williams Mullen partner is running for statewide office as an "outsider." This campaign theme strikes me as wrongheaded, not only because it is contradicted by this background of facts but also because it seems like a waste. If I was a Williams Mullen partner running for Attorney General, I just might say this: that the law firm is outstanding in all that it does and I'm proud of its work and my goal if elected is for the AG's office to do for Virginia what Williams Mullen does for its clients.

Perhaps I am being both naive and dishonest - probably the first thing I'd do if I ran for statewide office would be to go out and buy some cowboy boots.

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